One of the things I’ve noticed about even some of the really good books in the science fiction – fantasy continuum is what isn’t there. Of the most enduring books and longest running series, they all cut a wide swathe through the mainstream of social and cultural events and activities. Sherlock Holmes plays a musical […]

The names have been changed to protect well, no one It was just fun to do. I thought after the delightful weekend battle of the titans, that the publishing industry could use a slightly more amusing bit of nonsense to talk about. Friend: You deal with writers, right? Me: Yes. Me: Why? Friend: Interested… Me: […]

There have been a few posts lately about the value of agents across the internet. Some by agents, some by writers who love their agents, and some by people who seem to think agents are on the far side child molesters on their list of favorite kinds of people. Leaving completely aside the debate of […]

Sunset without shadows Let me start off by saying I’ve read more YA in the past three years, than I did as a young adult, or teenager, or adolescent or young person or whatever it is we’re supposed to call homo sapiens between twelve and eighteen. That said, the total number of YA books […]

The Essential Why? People ask; What does it take to get published? It takes a number of things. One is certainly, luck. It is almost certainly the smallest factor, but present. Finishing a novel is another, and by finishing I don’t mean simply writing until you toss in “the end”, but polishing the delivery, […]

I normally don’t do stuff like this, but it was floating around Facebook, and I had no idea what else to post. And I thought it might give people some idea as to what makes me sit up and take notice. This is of course not an exhaustive list of people who’s work I adore, just […]

It was 11:14pm ET when I started this post eight minutes after I got home, as I mentioned I’ve been busy. I signed a new client, one Irene Radford. The divine mind behind the Dragon Nimbus series, the Star God’s series, and Merlin’s Descendants series, among others. Go buy dozens, they’re good reading and it will help […]

The four books I read this time are all interesting, and from just two publishers. K. E. Mills’ The Accidental Sorcerer is a fantasy, set in a world that has an early electric age feel with a lot of magic. Gerald Dunwoody is our title character who has all the good fortune of a plague […]

First up was Amsterdam by the redoubtable Elizabeth Bear. I really liked this one, it has an episodic feel with each chapter leading into the next, but semi distinct. The first chapter feels like The Orient Express which I suspect is as accidental as pulling your own teeth. The main characters are fun, and […]

I asked a couple of the writers in the Better off Undead anthology about their stories, Dave Freer says: "If you are writer who has ever wondered just how some works of ‘literary genius’ escaped the toilet, and adore the taxman, read this." Jay Lake says of his story: Zombie chef searching for an out […]

While Science Fiction and Fantasy have helped lead the way to some extraordinary things in our world, there are some things that just shouldn’t be. Hopefully a few people will take this topic and run with it as I shall quite lazily point out only the simplest and most obvious things being the shiftless and […]

So who is the greatest living science fiction and fantasy author? Is it Ray Bradbury who has done the rarest of all things for genre fiction and crossed over to being used in English classes from elementary school all the way to college and universities? Does it go to Stephen King? He’s sold oodles of […]